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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Saxum!

Feast
of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo

12
May 2016 * Homily

How
many of you have visited the famous Underground River of Puerto Princesa? Can
you still recall the different images depicted in the marvelous rock formations
of stalactites and stalagmites? The corn, mushrooms,
eggplants, the human heart. Do you remember the “Cathedral”, a huge dome where
you could see rock formations looking like images of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Nativity, and the Three Kings?

Then,
the guide would explain to you how the stalactites
and the stalagmites were formed. A
stalagmite is “a type of rock
formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of
material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings.” Its corresponding rock
formation is a stalactite that hangs
from the ceiling, formed from the dripping of liquid that carries minerals from
the surface. The mnemonics have been
developed for which word refers to which type of formation: stalactite has a letter “C” for “ceiling”
and stalagmite has a “G” for “ground”.

When
stalagmites and stalactites meet each other, they form solid pillars. There is
one huge pillar that you can see inside the majestic Underground River of
Puerto Princesa. A huge pillar of stone or a large fragment of rock that is very
strong is called in Latin language “Saxum”.

St.
Josemaría nicknamed Blessed Alvaro del Portillo “Saxum”. In a letter he wrote to Don Alvaro in March 1939, St. Josemaría
said: “May Jesus watch over you for me, Saxum. That really is what you are. I
can see that the Lord is giving you strength and making my word come true in
you: saxum! Thank him for it and be
faithful to him, in spite of… so many things. […] If you could only see how
greatly I desire to be holy and to make you all holy! A hug and a blessing. Mariano.”
(St. Josemaría, “Letter to Alvaro del Portillo”, Burgos, March 23, 1939).

If you
notice, in his letter to Blessed Alvaro, St. Josemaría already pointed out why
his first successor was like saxum, a
rock to him. “I can see that the Lord is
giving you strength and making my word come true in you: saxum!” If Don Alvaro was faithful and dependable like a huge
pillar of stone, it was because God continuously showered him with numerous
graces. It was also because Don Alvaro corresponded generously to God’s gifts. The
more God’s grace drips from above like the stalactites,
the more Don Alvaro grows from below like the stalagmites!

What
a beautiful picture to behold for us as we celebrate his second feast today
since his beatification last September 27, 2014! We, too, are like stalagmites that rise from the ground thanks
to the continuous dripping of God’s stalactites
of grace. God’s stalactite has a
letter “C” in it but it does not stand for “ceiling”; rather, it stands for “Christ”.
Slowly but surely, as God’s grace drips unto us, we are being formed into the
likeness of Christ.

When
the stalactite of God’s grace is met with
the stalagmite of our generous correspondence
and cooperation, we can also become a “saxum”
to others. Let us, therefore, learn not to put hindrance for God’s grace to
work in our lives. Like the Good Shepherd in today’s Gospel, Blessed Alvaro also
taught us how to be generous collaborators of God’s grace, through his example of fidelity even in small
things and a life full of sacrifices.

A little anecdote: “St. Josemaría established
as a general rule that every priest of Opus
Dei should have, prior to ordination, a doctorate in a secular field as
well as a doctorate in an ecclesiastical discipline. But as it happened, the
first three priests were all engineers, and at the time that they were
ordained, even the highest-level technical schools in Spain did not grant
doctorates. So Blessed Alvaro, because he could not get a doctorate in
engineering, signed up for the Philosophy and Literature program at Universidad
Central, in Madrid. He was however exempted from class attendance. And so
having done the course work on his own, he obtained his licentiate on April 24,
1943 and his doctorate a year later, on May
12, 1944, (72 years ago today). His dissertation was titled “The First Spanish Expeditions to California”.
Later it was published as a book, a quite lengthy one, under the title 'Discoveries and Explorations on the Coasts
of California.'” (Facebook, Alvaro del Portillo Daily).

For
Bishop Alvaro, our pains and sacrifices can actually be very meaningful. They are
never senseless or futile. In April 19, 1990, when he visited a daughter of
his, named Camino Sanciñena, who met
a terrible accident at the end of January and was still in a very serious
condition in an isolation ward of Miguel Servet Hospital in Zaragoza, Spain, --
practically her whole body was covered with burns – he told her “that even though this is hard to
understand, pain is actually a caress from God”.

Pain
and suffering can be a source of joy. The whole life of Blessed Alvaro is a
testimony to this truth. The words of St. Paul addressed to the Colossians in
the First Reading today attest to it: “Itmakesmehappytosuffer for you, as I am suffering
now, and in my own body to do what I can tomake upallthathasstillto beundergonebyChristforthe sakeofhisbody,theChurch.”St. Paul could endure his sufferings because
Christ is in him, “Christ in us, our hope
of glory”.“ItisforthisIstrugglewearilyon,” he said, “helpedonlybyhis powerdrivingmeirresistibly.”

Our
struggles and difficulties in life contribute a lot so that Christ may be
formed in us. They can be channels of God’s grace dripping unto us so that we
may grow and become stronger like the stalagmites.
Conversely, it is only when we allow Christ to be formed in us can we really
endure and find meaning in our sacrifices and pains. Hence, allow yourselves to
be formed by God’s grace. Correspond generously to His grace so that you can
become like huge rocks for others to depend on.

Through
the intercession of Blessed Alvaro and St. Josemaría, may we grow in our
fidelity to grace and perseverance in our struggles. May we become like saxum to others. Amen.